[14] Hadith Fourteen

The Prophet's Warning Against One's Uttering A Word Without First Ascertaining
What One is Saying

It is narrated from Abu Hurayra -- Allah be well-pleased with him -- that he
heard Allah's Messenger say: "Verily Allah's servant may utter a word without
first bringing it to light [whether it is a good or a bad word], and because
of it will stumble into the Fire a distance greater than what lies between East
and West." The Two Shaykhs narrated it.

Al-Tirmidhi narrated it in the following wording: "Verily a man shall
utter a word he deems innocuous, and fall headlong for it a distance of seventy
years."

Al-Hakim narrated it in the following wording: "Verily a man shall utter
a word which he thinks of little consequence, and fall headlong for it into
the Fire a distance of seventy years."

Al-Bayhaqi narrated it in the following wording: "Verily Allah's servant
shall say a word and not mean to say it except to make his gathering laugh -
and fall headlong for it a distance greater than what lies between the heaven
and the earth. Verily a man shall fall, because of his tongue, harder than he
could ever fall from his feet."

Abu al-Shaykh also narrated with a fair chain from Anas - Allah be well-pleased
with him -- that Allah's Messenger said: "Lo! Verily a man among you may
speak a word so as to make the people laugh, and because of it plummet farther
than the heaven. Lo! Verily a man among you may speak a word so as to make his
friends laugh, and Allah Almighty and Exalted shall become angry with him because
of that word, and not accept anything from him, until He enters him into the
Fire."

The reader can look up these collected narrations in al-Mundhiri's Targhib.

Allah's blessings and peace on the Prophet., his Family, and his Companions